If Only Things Were a Little Different
by Gaire
Summary: A collection of one-shots about simpler times and wishes of things going differently. T for language.


If Only Things Were Different

A/N: This was heavily inspired by the song "Take Us Back," where I got the idea of going back to simple times when life was care free and easy. Each chapter revolves around one character and what I think is a simple time for them. There are no set dates but you can tell when the time period is. I'm not sure how many of these that I want to do, but I will take requests. If you have a character that you want done, just say so in a review (along with critique, please). I do ask that it's not a character that has hardly been mentioned in the series. It would be hard to stick to cannon. Also, please don't ask for a specific plot. I want to explore what I can come up with and just hope that the requester (and the readers) likes it…but other than that, feel free to shoot me a request!

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Naruto.

Maybe it was the way the morning sun had sent welcoming rays of light through his window, or the fact that he had woken to a bird singing cheerfully in a tree, or the combination of both but whatever it was, Naruto was happy. He smiled a lazy, relaxed smile at nothing in particular and rubbed the excess sleep from his eyes. That day was going to be a nice, long day of training with Kakashi, Sakura, and Sasuke. (Not that he didn't do that everyday, but that day had just felt better than the ones previous.) Naruto stretched lazily, reaching his arms above his head and he grunted as he did so. It was definitely going to be a good day.

When he finally got enough persuasion from his mind that he needed to get up and get ready was when he realized that something was off. He sat on his bed and pondered what exactly was off, but for the life of him, he couldn't think of it. He quickly shrugged it off and proceeded to strip of his underwear (he hadn't bothered sleeping in pajamas) and replaced them with the only clean pair that he had left. He made a mental note to do laundry because he was at the point where it was to wear dirty underwear or nothing at all, and he wasn't that brave. He pulled on his orange pants and began to hunt for a shirt that didn't smell of death.

Naruto crawled on the floor picking up various shirts and smelled them, only to throw them behind in haste. He needed to find a shirt that wouldn't kill him from smelliness. Throwing shirt after shirt, and the occasional empty cup of ramen, he found a particularly clean looking shirt that sat by his bedside table. The rays of sunshine hit it in a way that made it look heavenly, and Naruto swore that he heard an angelic choir. He picked it up, brought it to his nose, and sighed. It smelled heavenly. This shirt was angelic and was sent down from the heavens, and Naruto knew that someone upstairs was looking out for him and his lack of clean clothes.

Throwing the shirt on, Naruto went and picked up his jacket (that had been haphazardly thrown to the foot of his bed the night before) and slipped his arms through the sleeves. Now shoes. He hadn't the slightest idea where his blue boots had gone, because he had been too tired to care where he put them the night before. However, he decided that he was too lazy to look for them and walked over to his bedside table again to put his hitai-ate on. As he stepped closer, his foot hit something small and Naruto looked down, only to be greeted by the face of a clock with daunting numbers that read 7:43. Suddenly, Naruto remembered why he felt that he was forgetting something when he had gotten out of bed.

"Let's meet at the bridge at seven o'clock tomorrow instead of nine, so that we have more daylight," Kakashi had told Team 7 after they had quit training for the day.

"Shit!"

Naruto quickly grabbed his hitai-ate and ran for the door. He was almost out when he felt cold tile on his feet, and he remembered that he still didn't have his shoes on. Cursing, Naruto ran through his apartment kicking clothes and garbage (he really needed to clean…) until he saw something blue stick out against a white shirt. He threw the shirt aside and was greeted by his boots, and he thought for a second that he had seen them smile tauntingly at him.

"Damn boots," he grumbled as he slid them on.

Finally, he was ready and ran out the door. He didn't bother to lock it, because who would want to steal from him? He figured that if no one liked him, then why would they like his stuff? As he ran to the bridge, he tied his hitai-ate around his forehead and knotted it. He was surprised that he had managed to do it while running, thinking that he would either hurt himself or someone else in the process. He smiled triumphantly and continued to run. However, Naruto had a bad habit of closing his eyes when he smiled, a habit that hadn't caused any problems until that day when he ran into someone and was knocked to the ground.

When he gained his composure, he quickly looked up in apology at the person that he had run into. He squinted his eyes as the person was standing straight in the sun and the shadows caused the sun to engulf whoever it was into a black mass. This person leaned down and said, "Don't you think that it's bad when I'm not the last one to show up to training?"

There was humor in his voice and Naruto knew right away that it was Kakashi. Quickly standing and brushing any dirt that had collected itself on Naruto, he stuttered out an apology. Kakashi just laughed, though, which had surprised Naruto.

"You're not mad?"

"Of course not," Kakashi smiled behind his mask, "We all have one bad day here and there. Besides, who am I to get mad at someone for being late? Now, let's go before Sasuke gets any angrier than he already is."

"Good plan! Let's go!"

It was then that Naruto's stomach gave a small growl of hunger and he realized that he hadn't eaten or brushed his teeth. He thought that that day was the worst…

Naruto and Kakashi walked at a somewhat fast pace toward the bridge, not making any contact. This was partly due to Naruto being embarrassed that his own teacher, who was notorious for being late, had come to get him. He would never hear the end of it from Sasuke, who he could picture with a teasing smirk on his face.

He would say, "Can't you set an alarm, loser? Or are you too dumb to even do that?" And then Sakura would chime in with some comment to reinforce Sasuke's comment, because that's what Sakura does. But Naruto wouldn't mind it from her, because any acknowledgement from his love was worth being late. He tried to think of a clever retort to what Sasuke would say, but he came up short. He had thought of things, but they all were about Sasuke and how much of a bastard he was. That would make Sakura mad, so he decided to keep silent if anything was said.

And, lone behold, Sasuke had commented. It hadn't been too embarrassing, but Naruto still played the silent treatment. He had said, "Can't wake up in time?" There was no 'loser' added to the end, so Naruto felt pretty good. It had also helped that Sakura didn't have anything to say after Sasuke made his comment; she just giggled. Naruto smiled at her when she did, because she had a very cute way of doing it. She would fist her hands and bring them to her mouth. Her eyes would and her short hair would fall ever so slightly over her face. It was one of Naruto's favorite things about her.

"Alright, team! I would really like to work on stamina in a fight, so we're going to spar," Naruto mentally fist-pumped the air; there was nothing that he loved more than sparring. Well, ramen, of course…But that was different, "However, I would like you to not use any jutsu. Use only fists and brains."

Naruto's eagerness deflated and he mumbled a 'dammit' under his breath. He loved using jutus (mainly the Shadow Clone) because it always worked to his advantage. Sasuke always had a hard time fighting him when he used it and it made Naruto feel good knowing that the top Geninn out of their class had trouble fighting him, the lowest ranking Gennin. He glanced over at Sasuke (he knew that's who he was going to be paired up with) and was welcomed with a cocky smirk. Naruto really wanted to punch him…

"Naruto, you and Sasuke will be sparring as usual, while Sakura and I will work together. Fight clean, please. I don't want anyone going to the hospital," Kakashi added extra weight to this last words. For good reason, though, because Naruto and Sasuke had a tendency to go too far with each other. No one had been sent to the hospital, but it had almost happened many times.

Naruto and Sasuke stood watching Kakashi usher Sakura away from them talking about how far she had came as a kunoichi. It was true, though. She had become very strong and it had given Naruto something else to admire besides her beauty and general "Sakura-ness." Naruto smiled again but it disappeared when he heard a scoff come from beside him, "Are we going to fight or are you going to just watch them? …Loser."

That had set him off. Naruto felt that he should be used to Sasuke calling him a loser, but it still struck a nerve within him hard, "Fine, bastard; let's go! You're going to lose though! Believe it!"

And with that, their fight began. Punches were thrown in an almost equal number, and it had surprised Naruto. Normally, Sasuke would have a considerable lead and he would only have gotten a few punches in, but that wasn't the case. Naruto had even gotten a few kicks in and even pulled ahead, but he still lost the fight. And by "lost the fight," there had really been a draw. Both he and Sasuke had finished the fight lying on the ground panting and trying their best to keep their eyes open.

"Good fight boys. I saw out of the corner of my eye, and I must say I am very impressed with you. Sakura did very well, too. She got a few good punches on me and I think that I may have a black eye." Sakura giggled and Naruto was sad that he couldn't see it.

"That's great, Sakura." He was very proud of her. He wanted her to do well as a ninja and know how to fight just in case he, Sasuke, or Kakashi weren't there to protect her.

"Thank you, Naruto. Here," she offered her hand, "Let me help you up."

He gladly took it and he pulled himself up, his legs wobbling slightly from a lack of energy, "You too, Sasuke," he watched as Sasuke, who was normally too proud to accept any help, take Sakura's hand and lift himself up. There was no retort on being able to do it himself or anything. Naruto started to think that maybe he had kicked Sasuke's head during the fight, because this was very "un-Sasuke" like behavior.

"Say, why don't I treat you three to some dinner? You definitely deserve it," Kakashi said, a smile evident on his face.

This made Naruto happy. There was nothing like a good fight and free food to top it off with. He only had one request, as if it wasn't obvious enough, but he still shouted it anyways, "RAMEN!"

The collective groans from Sasuke and Sakura sounded almost immediately, but Naruto was too excited to care. He was about to get free food, and honestly, who didn't love ramen? People may have said that they didn't, but he knew that deep down, they really did.

"Sure, that sounds lovely! Let's go!"

Despite their groans of displeasure, Sasuke and Sakura followed Naruto (who was leading the group in excitement to Ichiraku's) and Kakashi without complaint. Not even Sasuke, who always seemed to have a way to get out of dinner with the group, said one word of complaint. Maybe Naruto had kicked his head…

Dinner had been filled with the usual banter from Naruto and Sasuke, Kakashi telling them to behave, and Sakura giggling. Naruto had been happy though, as was the rest of the group. Even Sasuke had a small, content smile on his face.

Yes, that day had been a good day…

Naruto gazes up at the clouds lazily, remembering one of the many good days that he had once experienced with Team 7. Now, his days were filled with finding a way to bring Sasuke home. He wishes that things had turned out a little different for Sasuke so that maybe none of this would have ever happened. He wishes that Itachi hadn't been assigned to kill the Uchiha clan and that they were all still alive and that Sasuke was happy and with them. He wishes that he could somehow go back in time and try to stop all of the bad things from happening…but he knows that he can't.

"Naruto! Come on, we're heading out," Sakura calls from somewhere behind him.

He takes one last, longing look at the clouds in the sky…Yes; he wishes that things had turned out a little different. But for now, he needs to focus on bringing Sasuke back to his home. He turns and begins to walk toward Sakura, Sai, and Kakashi with a sad smile on his face.

Yes, he wishes things were a little different…

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Tada! I really hope that you enjoyed this. I enjoyed writing it. Please, leave a review telling me what you thought, ideas of how I can become a better writer…the usual. And if you have a request, please tell me! I'd enjoy exploring this idea more.


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